We all laughed at this enthusiastic burst of virtue from the chaste
Chaulieu. And Arouet turned our conversation towards the ecclesiastical
dissensions between Jesuits and Jansenists that then agitated the
kingdom. "Those priests," said Bolingbroke, "remind me of the nurses of
Jupiter: they make a great clamour in order to drown the voice of their
God."

"Bravissimo!" cried Hamilton. "Is it not a pity, Messieurs, that my
Lord Bolingbroke was not a Frenchman? He is almost clever enough to be
one."

"If he would drink a little more, he would be," cried Chaulieu, who was
now setting us all a glorious example.

"What say you, Morton?" exclaimed Bolingbroke; "must we not drink these
gentlemen under the table for the honour of our country?"

"A challenge! a challenge!" cried Chaulieu. "I march first to the
field!"

"Conquest or death!" shouted Bolingbroke. And the rites of Minerva were
forsaken for those of Bacchus.



CHAPTER VI.

A COURT, COURTIERS, AND A KING.